Artists and friends Joerg Madlener and Paul Metzger, from Clary­ville, exhibit their recent project “No One Enters the Same River Twice” at the ARTRA Gallery in Neversink.

The show is open until May 14. The event, sponsored by the Neversink General Store, will raise funds for the people of Ukraine.

Saturday, May 7 at 11:30 am - at the gallery - Joerg Madlener will give a short lecture Landscape of a River - Landscape of a Face, followed by a question and answer session with Paul Metzger and Joerg Madlener.

The title is a reference to the quote “no man ever steps in the same river twice, for it is not the same river and he’s not the same man,” by the Greek philosopher Heraclitus.

Joerg began visiting the river for inspiration for his painting - as an antidote to his previous work focused on the Iraq and Syrian (2003 and 2011) wars and their agony. These paintings were shown in a former cold war bunker and the Heylshof Museum, both in Germany, and in a public space in the center of Brussels.

By happenstance Paul and Joerg often met at the river and discussed what they were seeing and experiencing. In March of 2022 Joerg was unable to make the trip from Hoboken to Claryville and asked Paul to photograph the river covered in snow. The resulting photography and Joerg’s paintings done in October, both being interpretations, face each other in this exhibit. The river initiates and mediates between the gaze of the photographer and the gaze of the painter. Serendipity.

Seeing all the suffering caused by the war in Ukraine, Madlener and Metzger decided together with the ARTRA Gallery team to use the exhibition as a fundraiser. The money will be donated to the UNICEF Children’s Fund.